


In Sickness

by erikaehm



Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: Gen, Poverty, sad feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-23
Updated: 2013-03-23
Packaged: 2017-12-06 04:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/731650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erikaehm/pseuds/erikaehm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kid!Ori is sick, and there's no one to take care of him aside from big brother Nori. Nori reflects on everything he's doing wrong, but somehow manages to do a few things right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Sickness

**Author's Note:**

> My Ellie is sick ;o; so I write sick fic. ily bb, feel better.

In Sickness

 

It’s the coughing that rouses Nori from his sleep. He’s come in late again as he’s prone to do, and it’s well past noon yet he’s not out of bed. His family calls him lazy and they eye him with distrust. They ache in their hearts for the shame that he brings them – but their bellies are full and their clothes are warm, and those are also things that _he_ brings them when the coin his Mam and Dori bring in just aren’t enough. Not for the first time he curses his wretched father. Really, it’s him they should blame for the shame. At least Nori hasn’t _walked out_ , hasn’t _left_. Not yet. That indignity lies squarely on his Da’s shoulders.

 

He stays in bed for a moment longer, just listening. He can’t hear Dori bustling about, nor his Mam. Which means its little Ori – little Ori who Nori had a hard time loving at first, with his over sized ears and wailing cries – all alone in Mam’s room, hacking up a storm. It confuses him for a minute, until he remembers that they’ve been recruiting miners for longer shifts, harder shifts. The rules have changed too. If you’re not showing up, you’re not getting any more work.

 

Even if you’re leaving children at home alone. But Ori isn’t alone; he has Nori to take care of him, if Nori can be roused enough to do it. He knows his family thinks him a poor care taker and a horrible fill in for Dori. He wishes they’d have woken him before they left, so he’d have already been up and about. He wonders if they tried, and if they failed.

 

Irritation bites at him, sharp and bitter, and he drags himself out of his bed letting his blanket fall carelessly to the ground. It’s not irritation at his family though, rather at the head miners who are overworking all the Dwarrow in an effort to drag in more coin. What good is coin when you’re too dead on your feet to do anything with it, he wonders as he makes his way across the hall. The door creaks horribly when it opens and he makes a mental note to swing by Bofur’s later – Bofur, who is just as poor and low class as the Ri’s, who won’t mind oiling or whittling at the door until it’s fixed if only for the company.

 

He knows half of his irritation is bred from guilt. But if he were to go working in the mines, like his older brother and Mam, there really would be no one to watch Ori and the lads too little to be on his own. They still can’t afford a sitter. So Nori does his ‘work’ at night, slinking into bars where there are few Dwarrow and many men, quick hands snatching whatever he can. It’s never much for he isn’t _that_ stupid, it’s just enough to help. Yet it leaves him exhausted, to the point where he sleeps most of the day away.

 

Sometimes he feels shame when he gets up to find the kitchen a mess, Ori’s lip wobbling as he says he was hungry and just trying to make himself lunch – Nori having already missed fetching him breakfast.

 

“What’s wrong now?” He murmurs, voice sleep tinted as he peers down at his little brother. The Dwarfling’s face is blotchy red, cheeks flushed dark as he hacks into a small fist. A wave of sympathy rolls over Nori, and he brushes a careful hand down over his brother’s forehead. “Aye lad, you’re running a bit of a fever now aren’t you? C’mere.” He settles on the edge of the bed, waiting patiently for Ori to clamber up into his lap.

 

He takes a moment to rock the little Dwarf, murmuring soft nothings into his hair until the tense child relaxes. “Let’s get you somethin’ to eat, yeah?” He sighs, shifting the weight around until he can easily balance Ori on his hip. Little arms and legs cling at him and he chuckles as he makes his way quickly to the kitchen.

 

If there’s one thing, and only one thing, that Nori can do better than Dori, its cook. He deposits Ori on the floor beside the hearth, knowing the flames will do well to keep the babe warm while he works. He sets about hanging their big pot over the fire and makes use of leftover meat, scraps of vegetables getting ready to go bad being tossed in as well. He ends up with a thin, watery stew that smells better than it looks.

 

Ori doesn’t complain. He never does, not really. He was born into this life of _real_ hardship.   Nori and Dori had had their Da with the for a while, but Ori’s father had split before he’d even been born – he’d refused to take on a third child, even if the third was _actually_ his. Nori sort of hates him for it, too.

 

Instead of focusing on that, he focuses on feeding Ori big spoonfuls of stew, carefully using an old dish towel to mop up any mess. His face is still bright with fever but his eyes are clearing a bit. Nori takes it as a good sign. “You know.” He says finally, “You’re somethin’ special yeah?”

 

Ori blinks at him, confused, and reaches for the bowl again. Nori lets himself smile and here where no one else can see him, drops his aloof expression and scoops another spoonful into Ori’s mouth. “One day, you’re gonna go places.” Ori’s young enough still that he doesn’t understand everything Nori says, just bits and pieces. He does, however, understand the love in his brother’s eyes. He reaches a grubby hand to grasp at Nori’s nose, food finished. “You’re gonna make us so proud, I know it. Not gonna be like me, slippin’ in and out all hours, not if Mam and Dori have anything to say about it.”

 

“Mam?”

 

“She’ll be home in a while, lamb. Just listen to your Nori now.” The bowl is gone and Ori’s belly is full as it ever is, so Nori drags him back to his room. He settles them both under a heavy blanket and focuses on working the knots from Ori’s tangled hair.

 

He talks for a long time about what he dreams of; how he just knows Ori is going to grow up big and strong, how he’ll take a craft and be an honorable Dwarf. How even though they don’t have much, Ori is lucky to be so loved by three people. How they’re going to take care of him, how Nori will take care of them all no matter what he has to do or how he has to do it. Ori listens to him attentively through it all, lets his hair be combed without his usual fuss.

 

Yet he falls asleep mumbling for Mam and Dori and Nori can’t help the pang of painful jealousy that sits in his chest. He grits his teeth against the wave of emotion and closes his eyes; it’s how the rest of the family finds him, hours later. Ori asleep in his lap, his back to the headboard as he cradles their youngest.

 

As soon as his Mam is in through the door he pawns Ori off onto her and slips into the night.

 

 (In the morning as they bustle about preparing for work, his Mam will find a package in the sink. There will be herbs and medicines inside and she’ll leave Nori detailed notes on how to prepare the broths and teas for Ori. She’ll share a glance with Dori who looks, as he always does, disapproving. She’ll feel shame, heavy in her stomach for using that which she knows Nori didn’t come by honestly. But she will also feel pride for her two sons who sacrifice everything to help her care for the third. She will feel love for her middle child who is sprawled across his bed with a bloody lip and broken nose when she goes to press a kiss to his forehead, when he’s asleep and won’t complain about the affection. She will walk beside her eldest, to the mines, and she will be afraid that this is not enough, will never be enough. She will go home that night and feel relieved for Ori’s fever is gone, and Nori can’t seem to keep that little, secret smile off of his face.)


End file.
